Let's get one thing straight first.... I used to be a massive fan of Nokia and my first dozen phones were all Nokia, but when I moved over to smart phones (whenever that was) they didn't seem to keep pace with the competition. Most of you will know I am a massive Apple fan, and every where I go so does my iPhone, but being a gadget geek I love to try out new gadgets, and when Nokia UK gave me the opportunity to try out the Lumia 1520 I couldn't turn it down.

In summary I really like the phone, the feel, quality of the screen, camera etc is very good. How the phone feels in your hand is also pleasing (sounds wrong but if a phone feels horrible then the overall experience can be ruined).

Below I have summarised what I like about the phone and also don't like.

Likes:

The size - thought it would be to big but actually after using the 6" screen going back and picking up my small iPhone really does feel strange.

The Camera - its pretty good, I am not sold on some of the functions but certainly managed to grab some great pics (see a collection of them below), the video on this is also very good.

Nokia MixRadio - is a great alternative to spotify, has some fantastic features for creating playlists.

Here Drive+ - as far as sat nav's on phones go, this is the best built in one I have used, the larger screen is also a bonus.

Nokia Storyteller - is a great little app for collecting pictures and video of places you have been, and lets you collect them all in one place. Found this very hand when showing the wife pictures of a walk that me and the youngest went on.

Battery - I can easily get 24 hours use without a charge, and that is using it at the same level as I use my iPhone

Windows OS - I like it a lot

live tiles - I like the snippets that this can give you for a number of apps with out opening them

the way you can adjust the size of the tiles and personalise the home screen!

Kids Corner- this is a very simple and easy way to lock the phone down and be safe in the knowledge that the kids cants access something they shouldn't.

Data Sense - I am lucky that I have a 10GB data plan, but if you are on a restricted plan and you want to keep control of the data you are using then this built in app is perfect for tracking what you are using!

Dislikes:

I have to admit there are very few, well in fact whilst writing this post I could only think of one, this is potentially a big one but if the rumours of introducing Android apps is true then this will resolve this main concern.

3rd party apps, the developers for Android / iOS either aren't developing the apps for windows or those that are certainly don't seem to have put the effort in!

So in summary I have been very pleased with the phone and how I got on with it. Would I consider getting a Nokia next time around? The answer to that has to be maybe, because I am so embedded with Apple but I certainly like the phone and would seriously consider it! I would certainly like this as work phone to replace my crapberry! but I wish I could have kept this phone, which gives you an idea of much I liked the phone.

The main issue for me is I am well embedded as an Apple user, for me to switch to another operating system would have unforeseen costs, such as repurchasing apps that I already have on the Apple iOS, that could potentially get quiet expensive! Shame there doesn't appear to be a way to transfer 3rd party apps without buying them again?

As mentioned earlier on in the blog attached are a few pictures we snapped using the Lumia 1520!!